Category Archives: Legislature

Coming soon to a ballot near you

Elections, Legislature, Politics, State government

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas primaries, Goodson, photo IDBy Steven Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

We’re getting a pretty good idea of some of the choices you’ll have on your ballot in 2020: definitely a sales tax extension for highways, and potentially legislative term limits and a proposal to make it harder to amend Arkansas’ Constitution.

Let’s start with the highway tax.

When the legislative session began, Gov. Asa Hutchinson made highway funding a priority. One relatively easy way to do that is to ask voters to continue paying a tax they’re already paying. In this case, it would be a half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2012 to fund the Connecting Arkansas Program for highways.

It’s due to expire in 2023. Voters can make it permanent next November through a constitutional amendment referred by the Legislature. It would provide about $205 million a year for the state’s highways and another $88 million for city and county roadways. Continue reading Coming soon to a ballot near you →

Sort of Arkansas’ prime minister

Legislature, Politics, State government

LegislatureBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Government in the United States isn’t designed to be like Great Britain’s, but that’s how it often functions. In Arkansas, that’s just a reality. In Washington, D.C., it’s a problem.

Political parties structurally are part of the British system, and the executive and legislative branches are interconnected. There are two major parties, Conservatives (Republicans) and Labor (Democrats), and also minor parties that do win seats in Parliament. The party that wins control in parliamentary elections forms a government. It’s headed by a prime minister, Theresa May, who is an elected member of Parliament who represents the town of Maidenhead.

May along with her Cabinet are really who chart the country’s direction. Her primary worry regarding Parliament is maintaining her Conservative Party’s support. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her job. This could happen if she can’t manage Brexit, the politically impossible divorce from the European Union. Continue reading Sort of Arkansas’ prime minister →

Arkansas’ flag: Symbols matter, and so does what they symbolize

Legislature, Politics, State government
Arkansans of the Year, Convention of States

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

“Symbols matter.”

That was the argument offered by Rep. Charles Blake, D-Little Rock, for his bill that would change the meaning behind the star representing the Confederacy on the Arkansas state flag.

Based on a 1924 design, the flag has four blue stars in its center area. The three below the state’s name commemorate its belonging to France, Spain and the United States prior to statehood. The one above commemorates its belonging to the Confederacy.

Blake, who is African-American, says that era shouldn’t be forgotten or commemorated. His House Bill 1487 would change the star’s meaning but not the flag itself. Instead of the Confederacy, it would represent the Native American tribes who first occupied the landscape. Continue reading Arkansas’ flag: Symbols matter, and so does what they symbolize →

Senator wants to starve kids!

Education, Legislature, Media, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Democracy is hard. It’s even harder when journalists don’t do their jobs.

Such has been the case the past couple of weeks regarding an Arkansas bill that sounds like it cuts school lunches for poor kids, but doesn’t.

Senate Bill 349 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, would set up a process for reducing and then ending National School Lunch Act state categorical funding for some poorly performing districts.

If you read that quickly, what word stood out? For many, it’s “lunch.” That’s especially the case for those who also might be inclined to react unfavorably to the “R” beside Clark’s name. Continue reading Senator wants to starve kids! →